New Years Party
by DarkBlossom14
Summary: Sakura didn't want to go to Ino's party, but while she's there she sees a boy who she had first met in a sandbox.


**Disclaimer: No.**

_This is sort of a follow-up of _The Sandbox, _except Gaara and Sakura are older. (:_

New Years Party

"I can't beleive I let her talk me into this!" Sakura Haruno shouted as she scrambled around her room attempting to locate her missing shoe. She was late for Ino's New Years Party and she knew Ino was going to be mad if she didn't get a move on.

"I don't even want to go to this stupid party." Sakura said to her cat, Keto, the black cat tilted it's head to the side. "I don't know why Ino has this need for me to be there...I don't like parties, and I am no where near as outgoing as she is." Sakura sighed and flopped down onto her bed. She was about to give up on trying to find her shoe when her phone rang.

"Hello?" Sakura said.

"Saka? Where the hell are you?" Damn. It was Ino.

"I'm at my house."

"Well duh! I mean, why aren't you here?" Sakura could hear faint music coming from Ino's house and she almost groaned.

"I can't find my shoe."

"Well who cares, just come over here...I have chosen something for you to wear anyways." Sakura couldn't reply, Ino had hung up.

Sakura sighed again, and got up, she slipped on a pair of flip flops, grabbed her purse, walked out the door, and headed to hell...Ino's house.

When she arrived she climbed the steps that led to Ino's door, she was about to knock when the door swung open and Ino popped out.

"Took you long enough to get here, geez!" Ino pulled Sakura inside and dragged her to her room. Once inside the baby blue room Ino shut the door and turned to smile at Sakura.

'Oh crap, I know that look.' Sakura thought as she watched Ino make her way to the closet. Ino pulled out a red dress, the soft fabric was cut at the knees, the loose swinging bottom led to a nicely fit waist and a low cut, V-shape at the top, it tied at the back of the neck.

"Wow Ino, its beautiful, it'll look great on you." Sakura said.

"Yeah it would look great on me, but its _going_ to look amazing on you!" Ino said as she pushed Sakura toward the bathroom, and handed her the dress.

"Now change fast, before all the guests arrive." With that Ino shut the bathroom door and went down stairs.

Sakura sighed, yet again, and began to slip on the dress. Once she was changed she turned around in front of the mirror and she was surprised how the dress fit her so perfectly. Sakura tossed her hair up into a messy bun, leaving some strands to fall around her face. She stepped out of the bathroom and found a pair of red heels on Ino's bed, she smiled and pulled them on. She made her way to the top of Ino's stairs, and was suddenly very nervous...the guests were there.

'I can't go down there...everyone is going to see me...what if I trip or something.' Sakura stood there debating her options when she heard laughter, lots of laughter. 'Okay, they're not paying attention to the stairs, I'll just go down quickly and then stand in the corner or something.' Sakura began walking down the steps, and nearly ran back up them when she heard Ino shout.

"Hey! There you are Sakura, wow, I knew that dress was perfect for you!" Sakura blushed and stood at the bottom of the stairs, the people at the party agreed with Ino, then went back to there own thing. Sakura examined everyone there. Ino was clinging to a blushing Shikamaru, Ten Ten was talking with Lee (Both were unaware of the glare that was being sent there way by Neji), Naruto was showing off to Hinata, Kiba was spiking the punch bowl, Sasuke was talking with Shino, and then Sakura's eyes landed on a boy, who was standing by himself.

The boy looked to be about 17-years-old, same as Sakura, he was dressed in black; black baggy jeans, black T-shirt, and a black jacket, he had a mess of unkept red hair, and black rings around his beautiful bule-green eyes. He also had a tatoo of the symbol of love on his forehead.

'Wow, he's so cute...I feel like I've seen him somewhere though.' Sakura thought, she didn't realize she was staring until the boy truned to look at her, they locked eyes for a moment then Sakura blushed and walked toward Ino.

"So, Sakura seen anyone you like?" Ino asked, her voice was a little higher than it should have been, she apparently had had some of the spiked punch.

"No Ino, I haven't." Ino pouted and grabbed Sakura's hand, she began pulling her over to where the punch was...and the red haired guy was.

"You should have some punch...then dance with some cute guys." Ino pushed a glass of the red drink into Sakura's hand and walked back to Shikamaru.

Sakura sighed and looked down at her drink.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you."

Sakura spun around to face the red head boy.

"W-what?" Sakura was surprised that he was talking to her.

"It's spiked." His voice was deep, and some how very soft.

Sakura put the glass down, and locked eyes with the boy.

"My name is Sakura." She said as she stuck her hand out. She was shocked that she had just done that, she was not an outgoing person, but something about this male, just made her braver.

The boy didn't reply.

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?"

"No."

"Why? I told you mine."

He smirked. "I already knew your name, and you already know mine."

Sakura thought about that. 'Red hair, red hair...where the hell have I seen a guy with red hair!'

"I-I'm sorry, but I can't remember you."

He chuckled and held out his hand. "Care to take a walk with me Sakura?"

Sakura blushed, her name sounded great on his lips. She took his hand and they walked out the front door. The guy led Sakura to the park, straight to the sandbox.

The boy sat down and took off his jacket and spread it out beside him, he patted his jacket as a motion for Sakura to sit on it. Slowly she curled her legs under her and stared into the male's eyes.

"This is MY sandbox. I used to play here everyday, all by myself. Until a girl came and sat in here with me and tried to make a sand castle, she wasn't very good at it." The guy said this as he looked down at the sand, then suddenly he moved his arm around and the sand took the form a castle. Sakura's eyes widened, but before she could speak the male continued.

"She managed to get me to leave my sandbox and we played tag for hours. It was the first time anyone played with me. From that day on we were always together, but about five months later her dad got a new job, and she had to move. I thought about her everyday." He looked up at Sakura, "I missed her."

"...Gaara." Sakura breathed out, then she flung her arms around him, he returned the embrace. They stayed like that for awhile, but suddenly Sakura pulled away.

"You know," Sakura said as she looked around the sandbox, "I saw way bigger sandboxs' were I used to live."

Gaara roled his eyes.

"I'm sure you did, but did you ever meet anyone who could do this?" Gaara waved his hand around and the sand took the form of a castle. Sakura giggled.

"No, you are only one who can move _dirt_ around like that." Sakura smirked when Gaara made a face at the word dirt. Then suddenly a small whip of sand came up to flick Sakura on the nose. Sakura's eyes widened and she smiled, and lighlty pushed Gaara over into the sand, then stood up and ran.

Gaara was right behind her, Sakura ran around the park, but Gaara caught up to her and grabbed her by the waist, they both started to fall over, but Gaara flipped them and he landed on his back in a safety net of sand. The sand dissapeared leaving Sakura and Gaara lying together on the grass.

It was great to be with Gaara again, it was easy, like it was when they were young. Sakura forgot about everything, all her worries, all the awful things in life, all she could remember was Gaara. She smiled as she leaned into Gaara, his grip on her waist tightened, and he sighed into her hair.

"Gaara?" Came Sakura's voice, she propped herself up on one elbow and tilted her head down at him, Gaara looked up at her as a sign that he was listening.

"I missed you too." There was a small puase, then he spoke.

"...I...I always hoped you would come back." Was his reply. Sakura smiled, 'So we're telling secrets are we.' She thought as she looked into his eyes.

"I was afraid to play with anyone at the park, until I saw you in the sandbox."

"You became my only freind, my best friend." He said as he played with a strand of her hair.

"I thought you were the saddest, cutest boy in the world."

"I thought you were the strangest, prettiest girl I ever saw." Sakura blushed.

"I...I had a huge crush on you."

There was a long pause after Sakura said that, she was worried that he didn't like her because he had closed his eyes and he wasn't speaking. But suddenly he sat up and hugged Sakura.

"...I think I love you." He whispered into her ear.

"I think I love you too." They held one another for awhile, then Gaara lightly kissed Sakura's ear, his lips moved down to her jaw--where he dragged light kisses until he reached her chin. He slid his lips up to hers, but didn't kiss her.

Sakura almost moaned when he didn't continue, her skin was burning where he had kissed her, and she didn't want it to stop, she was about to kiss him when he spoke.

"Sakura," His voice was ragged and husky, "You...you don't plan on leaving anytime soon do you?"

Sakura laughed, "No Gaara, I'm here to stay...with you."

Gaara smirked and his mouth took over hers, the kiss started off a little slow, but as the heat, and longing between them intesnsified, so did the passion. After awhile, they broke apart. Gaara rested his forehead against hers.

"We should probably get back, Ino is going to get worried." Sakura said, though she didn't want to leave, she knew she should.

Gaara sighed. "Yeah, its almost midnight." They both looked up at the sky, and sure enough fireworks began shooting off in all directions. Gaara pulled Sakura closer and they watched the show. When it was over they stood up and walked back to Ino's house.

They arrived in time to see the last few people leaving; Neji was holding onto Ten Ten, glaring at Lee, who was heading down the street, Naruto had his arm wrapped around Hinata as they walked home, Ino kissed Shikamarue good-bye and smiled at Sakura, then she went back inside.

"I'm going to spend the night here, so I guess I'll see you...um,..." Sakura looked at Gaara, not sure what to say.

He smirked and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Tomorrow, I'll see you tomorrow." With that said he turned and walked down the street. Sakura smiled and went inside to help Ino clean up. But when she stepped in Ino grabbed her hand and was yelling that Sakura needed to tell her everything. So they sat on the couch and Sakura told Ino all the events that happened.

"See, aren't you glad you came to my party?" Ino asked when Sakura was done talking.

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, I am."

_Well, what can I say... I don't know if I like this story, but I wrote it anyway. So let me know if you liked it or not. :)_

_DarkBlossom 14_


End file.
